"land between the rivers"-Tigris and Euphrates-formed cities-lots of interactions with other peoples

Sargon of Akkad

creator of empire in Mesopotamia, overthrew kings and destroyed walls, putting Mesopotamia under his rule, controlled trade routes and taxes and great armies

Hammurabi

Babylonian conqueror "king of the four quarters of the world"

Lex talionis

"law of retaliation"-offenders sufered punishments resembling their violation, also taking upon social standing

patriarchy

authority over public and private auffairs vested in men; family-decided work, marriage; public- all public affairs and policies decided by men

Abraham

came from Sumer, migrated to Palestine, his descentandts recognized Mesopotamian deities, values, and customs; borrowed lex talionis and flood stories

Hebrews

from pastoral nomads to in land between Egypt and Mesopotamia-migrated a lot

Monotheism

Moses first to embrace it; only one god (Yahweh in Judaism); all other deities were false imposters

Torah

set of holy scriptures, which lay down Yahweh's law and outlines his role in creating the world and guiding human affairs; he rewards the ones who obey and punish those who don't (individual or whole communities)

Phoenicia

trading empire on the coast of the Mediterranean; no farming a lot of industry and trade; alphabetic writing

Indo-Europeans

group of people with similar languages (most European, Hindi, Farsi-Iran, Greek, Latin), in a similar geographical area

migration

movement of people

polytheism

belieft in more than one god, more accepting to other gods, based more on practices, not beliefs